Rubio meets Pope Leo at Vatican to defuse tensions with Trump

The meeting comes amid the US president’s repeated attacks on the pontiff over the Iran war and nuclear weapons

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio left the Vatican on Thursday after seeing Pope Leo in what was expected to have been a fraught meeting following President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on the Catholic leader over the Iran war.

Rubio spent 2-1/2 hours at the Vatican before driving away in a convoy under tight security. He met initially Leo before ‌sitting down with senior Vatican officials, including top diplomat Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

“The meeting underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity,” US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.

He said Leo and Rubio discussed the Middle East as well as their mutual interests in the western hemisphere – a phrase used by the US to refer to Latin America.

Rubio’s meeting with Leo, the first between the pope and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year, appeared to have run longer than planned. The pope arrived 40 minutes late for a subsequent appointment with Vatican staff and thanked them for being patient.

Vatican photos of the meeting showed Leo and Rubio shaking hands before sitting down together at the pope’s official desk in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.